After looking at what you cannot eat on a renal diet, it may seem impossible to enjoy a smoothie for kidney failure. After all the main things that go into a smoothie are limited and that means it won’t be very good, right?

Wrong! Substitutions exist for the common high potassium and high phosphorus foods that are normally added to smoothies – so you can still enjoy that flavor without all the potassium.

Fruits For A Smoothie For Kidney Failure

Of course, high potassium fruit should be limited with your current diet. By speaking to your dietitian, you may be able to work higher potassium foods into your diet. Typically, you should try to consume the lower potassium fruits, though, and that is what I am going to use in the recipe so you can have a great smoothie right after you are done reading this!

For each serving you are making, use 1/2 cup of fruit above. Frozen fruit works excellent in smoothies and eliminates or cuts down the need to use ice, especially if you have a fluid restriction. So, you can use the flavors to add a little bit of pop to your otherwise ordinary day. And frozen fruit is easy to find all year long – so you won’t be stuck without having an ingredient when you get a craving.

Can I Use Milk In My Smoothie For Kidney Failure?

Milk, yogurt and ice cream which are normally be added to a smoothie must be eliminated because of the high phosphorus levels for most kidney patients. If you are not limiting your phosphorus, then you can use milk as long as you account for the protein it contains. To obtain a similar creaminess, non-dairy whipped topping or non-dairy creamer could be added instead of a dairy product if you can’t have them. Another idea could be to add sherbet.

For each serving you are making, use 2 to 4 tablespoons of whipped topping or sherbet.

Protein In My Smoothie for My Kidneys

If you are on dialysis you have increased protein needs from when you were not on dialysis. For this reason, you may want to add a protein power. For a high quality protein, protein powders such as whey protein powder or egg white protein powder can be used. They must be checked for potassium and phosphorus content. There are many brands that have less than 200mg of potassium and phosphorus. However, there are also even more brands that have high levels of these minerals and have an abundance of additives.

Products that are low in potassium and phosphorus include:

EggPro powder, LiquaCel, Procel Whey Protein Powder, Pro-Stat, Proteinex Liquid, Pure Protein Whey Powder
Since you may have a decreased appetite, you may be familiar with liquid renal supplements. These can also be used to supplement protein as well as add creaminess to the smoothie. Some liquid renal supplements include Re-Gen, Nepro with Carb Steady and Novasource Renal.

For each serving you are making, use one scoop of protein powder or 4 ounces of liquid nutrition supplement.

If you feel the smoothie needs some extra flavor, Crystal Light flavoring can be added to your smoothie to give it a kick!

Sample Recipes:

1/2 c Frozen Mixed Berries

4 Tbsp Non-Dairy Whipped Topping

1 Scoop Whey Protein

1/4 c Water (add more as needed)

Crystal Light Raspberry Peach (*optional)

Instructions: Blend all ingredients together. Add water as needed for the appropriate consistency based on your fluid needs or restrictions as well as based on your preferences.

or

1/2 c Vanilla Nepro with Carb Steady

1/2 c Frozen Mixed Berries

2 Tbsp Non-Dairy Whipped Topping

Crystal Light Strawberry Orange Banana (*optional)

Water as needed

Instructions: Blend all ingredients together. Add water as needed for the appropriate consistency based on your fluid needs or restrictions as well as based on your preferences.

Using one or two items from each section above can help you create a smoothie that you can enjoy on your renal diet. You can even experiment for more variety so that you do not become tired of the restrictions of your diet – which is a very important part of your diet. Watching what you eat all day can be onerous.

If you are interested in more recipes, you can check out our kidney diet cook book on Amazon, that is designed to meet the needs of a person with pre-dialysis kidney disease.